West Ham United will be welcomed by plenty of friendly faces when they touch down in Florida for the Sunshine State Tour on Sunday – but none friendlier than Jack Collison.
The former midfielder and Academy of Football coach remains popular among supporters for coming through the ranks, playing his part in Gianfranco Zola’s entertaining sides of the late 2000s, then battling back from a knee injury to help fire the Hammers to promotion via the EFL Championship Play-Off final in 2012.
While injuries ultimately ended the 15-cap Wales international’s playing career at the age of 27 in 2016, Collison has subsequently gone on to forge a second career as a coach, completing his badges while managing Peterborough United Under-21s, then returning to West Ham as Under-16s manager in 2017.
Two years later, Collison and his family took the life-changing decision to move to the United States, where he first managed Major League Soccer (MLS) side Atalanta United’s Under-17s, before being promoted to Head Coach of the club’s reserve team, Atlanta United 2, in 2021.
In January 2023, Collison took on another new challenge as the first Head Coach of the newly formed Huntsville City FC in the third-tier MLS Next Pro, moving 180 miles west from Georgia across the state line into Alabama.
He was also in Nashville, Tennessee, to celebrate West Ham at broadcaster NBC’s Premier League Mornings Live event in April 2024, but sadly the 35-year-old parted ways with Huntsville City later the following month. Regardless of that setback, with he and his wife and children settled on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Collison told whufc.com they intend to stay in the US.
With West Ham soon to visit Florida for a two-match Sunshine State Tour, he will act as an ambassador for his old Club, meeting fans, hosting coaching sessions in the local community and attending the Stateside Cup fixtures with Wolverhampton Wanderers in Jacksonville on Saturday 27 July and Crystal Palace in Tampa on Saturday 3 August.
JC, it’ll be great to see you again in Florida, and presumably for you to be able to see some familiar faces, too?
“Obviously, there are not too many players around from when I was at West Ham as a player, but I'm sure I will get a chance to catch up with [Sporting Director and former teammate] Mark Noble out here, and to spend some time with [fellow Club ambassador] Anton Ferdinand as well.
“I think the great thing now about being an ex-player is that you get to really enjoy it and actually spend time with the fans. The ambassador role was one I really enjoyed whilst I was living in England [and working games at London Stadium] and still being able to be a part of the Club and being able to see the excitement and the joy the Beautiful Game and West Ham in particular brings to the people is great. The good thing is now that I get a little bit of time to sit down and actually have a beer with them and hear about all their stories.
“I was in Nashville for the Premier League event and there were West Ham fans who had travelled from Chicago, Washington DC and Minnesota, from all over the country, just to get a feel for it and share their experiences and their love and have an opportunity to talk about West Ham.”
As a coach now yourself, have you enjoyed seeing West Ham’s performances and results in recent seasons? And are you looking forward to seeing how things develop under Head Coach Julen Lopetegui?
“From my point of view, it's been great obviously watching from afar and seeing the development and growth of the team over the past few seasons. Some of the performances have been incredible and if you look at the squad now, the quality of players from front to back is just great to see.
“It's been nice being a fan, so for me to see up close and personal as well is going to be really good. I’m excited to hopefully get a chance to see the new gaffer work and see how he intends on implementing his ideas and just being around it and trying to make the most of the experience.”
You mentioned Nashville and you met lots of West Ham supporters from all over the United States there. Now you’ll get the chance to have that same experience again!
“I think we got a real taste of the thirst for West Ham in the US when we did the Nashville Premier League event. Only a couple of months ago, [my former West Ham teammate] Matt Jarvis and I got a real good feel seeing West Ham fans travelling from all over the country just to be there for that weekend, so you can imagine it's going be even more excitement knowing that the players and obviously the new coaching staff are going to be out here.
“And I think, if you look at the way that football has grown in the US, and I've been out here five years now myself, it has just been incredible. Obviously, the Copa América was hosted in the country recently, some big name players have headed out to the MLS, and I think the real pinnacle is going to be the World Cup in 2026. You can see it's really gathering pace and the momentum and love for the game are really, really growing.
“Obviously, for me, in a very selfish way, it's great to be out here at this time and seeing all these great things happening and obviously watching the Beautiful Game grow and playing a very small part in that because it's nice to be able to sort of share some of my experiences and knowledge I picked up playing and being a coach.
“Now I'm getting an opportunity to play a very small role in helping grow the game as well, so I’m really enjoying it, and obviously going to Jacksonville and Tampa is going to be a great experience!”
